‘Ageing happens to every single one of us’

“I certainly see that I’ve changed. I just try not to dwell on it,” she says. “Ageing happens to every single one of us. Once you accept that it unburdens you.”

‘I did nothing beauty-wise’

That’s not to say she doesn’t look after herself though. She credits her vegan diet to helping her look and feel her best and says ageing really made her realise how important it was to care for yourself properly.

When she was in her twenties Michelle admits: “I did nothing beauty-wise. I smoked cigarettes, ate whatever I wanted and used bar soap on my face. People were horrified by how I treated my skin.”

‘I’m doing it in order to live longer’

Now she’s committed to a plant-based lifestyle and says although it helps her maintain her glow and her enviable figure, her looks weren’t at the centre of her decision to ditch animal products: “The older I’ve gotten, the more it’s occurred to me that I’m doing it in order to live longer,” she says before reluctantly admitting: “The vanity component will always be there.

“I really noticed a difference in my skin not too long after switching to fully vegan too.”

I ‘toyed’ with a facelift

When it comes to her beauty cabinet, sunscreen and manicures are a must and even though she says she once “toyed” with the idea of a facelift and has said of other people she’s “all for a little something here and there”, she can’t bare how obsessed the world has become with plastic surgery.

“All I really care about, is that I’m able to age gracefully and that I don’t ever look like a wax figure of myself,” she says. “I don’t need to look younger than I am because it ain’t gonna change anything.”

Which is something she truly learned to recongise after hitting 50.

‘I’m able to age gracefully’

“The good part about turning 50 — because that’s the big number that everybody dreads — is that it’s really not such a big deal. You spend so much time dreading it and there’s so much talk about it, and then it comes and goes and it’s over.

“Once you get over a certain hump there actually is less pressure. You can begin to look great for your age. You don’t have to look young any more.”

If you enjoyed this article you might also like to read the inspiring things Julianne Moore had to say about ageing and why Jamie Lee Curtis is refusing to let time pass her by.